ISLAMABAD (Reuters) — A truck slammed into
a bus bringing schoolchildren home from an outing in southern Pakistan
on Wednesday, killing at least 17 pupils and three adults, police said.

"It was a head-on collision when the truck slammed into the school
van on a single track dirt road. Apparently, speeding and
recklessness resulted in the accident," Abdul Rahim Gopang, a police
officer, said by telephone from near the accident.

The collision occurred in southern Sindh province, about 300 km (180
miles) north of the provincial capital Karachi.

Television channels showed footage of parents running into a
hospital in the nearby town of Nawab Shah, frantically looking for
their children, aged 10 to 16.

"All our dreams have been shattered. How can I live without my
child," a weeping Muhammad Akram, who lost his only son in the
accident, said by telephone from the hospital.

Eleven children were injured and being treated in hospital, said
Sindh's Information Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon.

Appeals for blood donations for the injured were issued from the
loudspeakers of mosques, local television channels said.